Mikel Azcona secures Circuit Paul Ricard pole position

Hyundai’s Mikel Azcona took pole position in qualifying for the FIA TCR World Tour at Circuit Paul Ricard, edging out Geely Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher by 0.099 seconds at the end of Q2.

The BRC Racing driver thus scored his second pole position of the season and the best possible starting position for Sunday’s race around the National configuration of the southern French circuit.

Ehrlacher had earlier topped Q1 ahead of Azcona by just 0.029 seconds, but the Cyan Racing driver ultimately fell short by around a tenth of a second in Q2.

Norbert Michelisz, who topped second practice, will start directly behind his team-mate in third, despite losing time with a steering rack issue, with Thed Björk joining the Hungarian on the second row of the grid in his Geely Preface.

Geely Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was fifth, although the points leader won’t start from there due to a ten-place grid penalty for accumulating three reprimands thus far this season. ALM Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley qualified in sixth, the Brit representing the sole Honda entry in the field this weekend.

SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte was seventh as the best CUPRA driver, with fellow Leon VZ driver Teddy Clairet alongside him in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Cyan’s Ma Qing Hua, who also has a ten-place grid penalty for reprimand totting up, and Vannin Motorsport’s Manuel Fernandes Jr.

FP1 pace-setter Victor Weyrich had been eighth quickest in Q1 and thus progressed into Q2, but an engine issue prevented him setting a time, whilst Julien Briché also failed to post a lap due to a technical issue which saw his Hyundai stop on the circuit.

Race one is scheduled to get underway on Sunday at 12:40 CEST (11:40 BST).

Q2 Result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	196		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	5	1:30.444	–
2	168		Yann EHRLACHER	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	6	1:30.543	0.099
3	105		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	6	1:30.768	0.324
4	111		Thed BJÖRK	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	6	1:31.025	0.581
5	181		Santiago URRUTIA	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	6	1:31.099	0.655
6	246		Jenson BRICKLEY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	5	1:31.154	0.710
7	107		Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	6	1:31.302	0.858
8	120		Teddy CLAIRET	Team Clairet Sport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	6	1:31.666	1.222
9	155		MA Qing Hua	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	5	1:31.875	1.431
10	13		Manuel FERNANDES JR	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	4	1:32.805	2.361
11	74		Victor WEYRICH	Herrero Racing	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	0	No time	N/A
12	24		Julien BRICHÉ	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	0	No time	N/A

Q1 result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	168		Yann EHRLACHER	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	10	1:31.063	–
2	196		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	8	1:31.092	0.029
3	105		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	6	1:31.390	0.327
4	120		Teddy CLAIRET	Team Clairet Sport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	10	1:31.391	0.328
5	181		Santiago URRUTIA	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	10	1:31.410	0.347
6	111		Thed BJÖRK	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	8	1:31.416	0.353
7	155		MA Qing Hua	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	6	1:31.458	0.395
8	74		Victor WEYRICH	Herrero Racing	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	4	1:31.500	0.437
9	107		Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	11	1:31.531	0.468
10	246		Jenson BRICKLEY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	8	1:31.569	0.506
11	24		Julien BRICHÉ	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	7	1:32.478	1.415
12	13		Manuel FERNANDES JR	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	1:32.768	1.705
13	170		Tom PUSSIER	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	8	1:32.836	1.773
14	81		Damiano REDUZZI	Trico WRT	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	9	1:32.993	1.930
15	145		Raphaël FOURNIER	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	9	1:33.183	2.120
16	22		Gilles CHAUVIN	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	9	1:34.585	3.522